I experimented with Aikido when I was in collage. I am not proud of it but I was curious. I had heard about this art while I was playing sport karate in high school and when I went to off to school there were all these new things and all this freedom. Plus some other kids knew were doing it.

One thing that I noticed while trying out this Aikido stuff is: it is not fun. Sport Karate (TKD), Kickboxing and BJJ are all taught with games and fun. Aikido seems so serious. I think (this is just my opinion) Aikido is harder to learn and thus harder to apply because it is soooooooooo seious and stuffy. It felt like so muck work trying to memorize all of the SCRIPTED moves. At the time I was studying enough to get through engineering school, any more studying was not in the cards. I would be willing to bet if someone taught Aikido like BJJ is taught you would have better results and higher retention.

Has anyone trained at an Aikido school that teaches with games and UNCRIPTED sparing?

On a side note, looking back I have noticed the arts I have enjoyed most were the ones were you could play in an unscripted manner. And really, why spend your precious time and put hard work into doing somthing that is not fun?

Last edited by BASE853; 8/20/2007 3:13pm at .
Reason: my PDA is hard to type on

I experimented with Aikido when I was in collage. I am not proud of it but I was curious. I had heard about this art while I was playing sport karate in high school and when I went to off to school there were all these new things and all this freedom. Plus some other kids knew were doing it.

One thing that I noticed while trying out this Aikido stuff is: it is not fun. Sport Karate (TKD), Kickboxing and BJJ are all taught with games and fun. Aikido seems so serious. I think (this is just my opinion) Aikido is harder to learn and thus harder to apply because it is soooooooooo seious and stuffy. It felt like so muck work trying to memorize all of the SCRIPTED moves. At the time I was studying enough to get through engineering school, any more studying was not in the cards. I would be willing to bet if someone taught Aikido like BJJ is taught you would have better results and higher retention.

Has anyone trained at an Aikido school that teaches with games and UNCRIPTED sparing?

On a side note, looking back I have noticed the arts I have enjoyed most were the ones were you could play in an unscripted manner. And really, why spend your precious time and put hard work into doing somthing that is not fun?

Yes, it's called Shodokan Aikido.

As I got over the whole "Japan is t3h awesome!" teenage years I became more and more annoyed with typical Aikido training. When I relocate after college (I will actually probably be in Japan the way it is looking now), if I cannot find an Aikido dojo I am absolutely blown away by I will probably abandon it for the time being for MMA, BJJ, Kendo, Kyokushin, etc. Like you said, something more game oriented. As it is at my current Aikido dojo, there is really only a few people who I enjoy training with. Everyone else is delusional/pussies/assholes about Aikido. I'm down to just about one night a week there because that is the only night that I will know ahead of time I will enjoy.

It's funny, for all the **** talking Aikidoka do about other arts being rough or ego driven, I know more jerks who will probably more easily injure you in Aikido than Judo. In fact, there is no one at my Judo dojo that I loathe training with.

I did aikido for a month. The people were obnoxious, arrogant and condescending. They lived in a fantsy land based on self-delusion and compliant training. Maybe all aikido isn't like that, but it was enough for me.

Seriously, what the hell is it with Aikido and starting threads?
Is it some secret technique that makes you think "I'm gonna blend with the forum. I'm harmoniously clicking the new thread button and I'm typing something non-violent, yet (I hope) engaging"?

It's the hakama, isn't it? Something mesmerising about those special pantaloons?